The money would include $25 million for a new transit hub at the mall, the CDTA's most popular destination. It would also remove two traffic lights and replace them with roundabouts, one each off the Northway and off Route 20 to the new drop-off and pickup point.

The project would also include $19 million in roadwork to create a bus-only route connecting the Harriman state campus and the University at Albany campus.

"We are looking at 2017 for the implementation of this," said CDTA spokeswoman Jaime Watson. "That's all money-dependent."

The CDTA has $7 million, mostly in federal funds, already in hand to do the engineering work on the project. Watson said the total cost would be $65 million to $70 million.

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"The access ramp from the Northway into Crossgates is a bottleneck and a hazard," President Donald Reeb said in an email call for support to members of the neighborhood association. "So much so that New York state police are posted nearby on the Northway on major shopping days. A person was killed in an auto accident at that intersection, and many accidents have occurred there. During peak shopping days, traffic speeds are often reduced to nearly a standstill, endangering not only the police and those going to Crossgates but other users of the Northway."

Watson said installing the roundabouts should improve traffic flow for the annual Christmas shopping season, but that widening the road to two lanes is not feasible.

"The widening of the road is a very complicated process," she said. "The bridge would have to be taken down. We are looking to improve access from that ramp; not only for our buses, but it would also improve access for the people who drive there as well."

CDTA is seeking the roundabouts and other road improvements in order for its buses to fit. The authority has bought two new articulated buses that are twice the size of a regular bus and have an accordion-like center section that bends, enabling twice as many passengers as a regular bus. Such buses carry 60 seated passengers and another 50 standing. "We wouldn't be able to get that bus into Crossgates Mall with that current design," Watson said.

Guilderland Supervisor Ken Runion said he has seen CDTA's plans and supports them.

"I thought the CDTA improvements would be beneficial," he said. "A lot of people who work in the mall or come to the mall use bus transportation. It would remove all the shelters."